The fruit turns from pink to red while ripening, then dark purple or black, and has a sweet flavor when fully ripe. Immature fruits are white, green, or pale yellow.

The mulberry fruit is a multiple, about 2–3 centimetres ( 3⁄ 4– 1 + 1⁄ 4 inches) long. The trees can be monoecious or dioecious. Lobes are more common on juvenile shoots than on mature trees. The leaves are alternately arranged, simple, and often lobed and serrated on the margin. Mulberries are fast-growing when young, and can grow to 24 metres (79 feet) tall.

The closely related genus Broussonetia is also commonly known as mulberry, notably the paper mulberry ( Broussonetia papyrifera). M. alba is also the species most preferred by the silkworm, and is regarded as an invasive species in Brazil and the United States. M. alba is native to South Asia, but is widely distributed across Europe, Southern Africa, South America, and North America. Generally, the genus has 64 subordinate taxa, three of which are well-known and are ostensibly named for the fruit color of the best-known cultivar: white, red, and black mulberry ( Morus alba, M. rubra, and M. nigra, respectively), with numerous cultivars and some taxa currently unchecked and awaiting taxonomic scrutiny. Morus, a genus of flowering plants in the family Moraceae, consists of diverse species of deciduous trees commonly known as mulberries, growing wild and under cultivation in many temperate world regions.

Pazuru mulberry